work. If the blades are not at right angles to the surfaceof the work, the edges of the cut will be slightly bentand burred. The bench edge will also act as a guidewhen you are cutting with the snips. The snips willforce the scrap metal down so that it does not interferewith cutting. Any of the hand snips may be used forstraight cuts. When notches are too narrow to be cutout with a pair of snips, make the side cuts with thesnips and cut the base of the notch with a cold chisel.Safety and CareLearn to use snips properly. They should alwaysbe oiled and adjusted to permit ease of cutting and toproduce a surface that is free from burrs. If theblades bind or if they are too far spat, the snipsshould be adjusted. Remember the following safetytips:Never use snips as screwdrivers, hammers, orpry bars. They break easily.Do not attempt to cut heavier materials thanthe snips are designed for. Never use tin snips to cuthardened steel wire or other similar objects. Such usewill dent or nick the cutting edges of the blades.Never toss snips in a toolbox where thecutting edges can come into contact with other tools.This dulls the cutting edges and may even break theblades.When snips are not in use, hang them onhooks or lay them on an uncrowded shelf or bench.HACKSAWSHacksaws are used to cut metal that is too heavyfor snips or boltcutters. Thus metal bar stock can becut readily with hacksaws.There are two parts to a hacksaw: the frame andthe blade.Common hacksaws have either anadjustable or a solid frame (fig. 1-21).Mosthacksaws found in the Navy are of theadjustable-frame type. Adjustable frames can be madeto hold blades from 8 to 16 inches long, while thosewith solid frames take only the length blade for whichthey are made. This length is the distance betweenthe two pins that hold the blade in place.Figure 1-21.-Hacksaws.Hacksaw blades are made of high-grade tool steel,hardened and tempered. There are two types, theall-hard and the flexible. All-hard blades are hardenedthroughout, whereas only the teeth of the flexibleblades are hardened. Hacksaw blades are about1/2-inch wide, have from 14 to 32 teeth per inch, andare from 8 to 16 inches long. The blades have a holeat each end, which hooks to a pin in the frame. Allhacksaw frames, which hold the blades either parallelor at right angles to the frame, are provided with awingnut or screw to permit tightening or removing theblade.The SET in a saw refers to how much the teethare pushed out in opposite directions from the sides ofthe blade. The four different kinds of set are theALTERNATE set, DOUBLE ALTERNATE set,RAKER set, and WAVE set. Three of these areshown in figure 1-22.The teeth in the alternate set are staggered, one tothe left and one to the right throughout the length ofthe blade. On the double alternate set blade, twoajoining teeth are staggered to the right, two to theFigure 1-22.-Set of hacksaw-blade teeth.1-14